With the proliferation of ever-increasing consumer demand and ever-decreasing resource space, virtualization is seen as the way forward to adapt to contemporary expectations and limitations within the online environment. Virtual private servers are a means that Web hosts use to address these issues, offering a virtualized solution to meet the dynamic needs of website owners and website users. Differing from the old standards of shared hosting and dedicated-server hosting, VPS hosting provides an array of features that can accurately balance service costs with usability benefits. Understanding what to look for in a VPS host can save costly mistakes in time and money over the long term. Here are the top tips to narrowing down the essential factors that you need to take into consideration when choosing a VPS host:
1. What is the uptime guarantee?
All good VPS-hosting services offer a specified uptime guarantee. Typically written as a percentage, this number reflects the amount of time you can expect your website to be visible online without any downtime problems. Discount any host offering less than 99% guaranteed uptime, even if the service cost appears attractive. The loss in traffic to your website over time from frustrated users far outweighs any benefit that shaving a few pennies off the monthly price provides.
2. Does the VPS host offer easy scalability?
If you foresee your website or company increasing its growth prospects, choose a VPS-hosting service that offers the potential for scalability. All top VPS hosts provide a range of packages to meet the current and short-term expectations of its customers’ resource needs. It’s prudent for you to check that the packages offered provide the ability to easily scale to a different service level, and that there are no financial penalties for doing so.
3. What type of security is included?
Your data is valuable, both to you and to hackers. A top-quality, VPS-hosting service covers this critical point using two methods: maintenance and protection. With maintenance, look for a VPS host that offers regular, updated backups of your data. This type of security measure prevents you from losing all your files in cases of fundamental hardware failure. Discount any VPS host that only offers backup maintenance once a day. With protection, look for a VPS host that offers a robust system of security measures to prevent criminals from hacking into your virtualization and stealing your data. Discount any VPS-hosting service that does not offer regularly updated security protection on your package plan.
While the benefits of virtualization using VPS technology are attractive for website owners that need a dedicated IP address and advanced site control without the hassle of maintenance, it’s essential to choose the right VPS host for your needs. A myriad of VPS hosts are currently available to supply the increased demand for this type of service, so it’s important to take into consideration the critical factors discussed to quickly determine a shortlist of VPS hosts. Once you have a shortlist, it’s easy to cross compare on package price, knowing that all the providers have covered the essential service points you need.
Sam Jones, the author, has Virgin business broadband but has been looking into VPS services for his business.